This invention relates generally to the art of sleeping pillows, and, more particularly, to the art of cervical pillows providing corrective support.
Pillows generally used for head support during sleep are for the vast majority of people comprised of either down or foam rubber stuffing contained within an ellipsoidal cover. The geometry of a pillow during sleep is generally left to the whims of the person commanding the pillow since such pillows are generally deformable over a broad range of geometries. Several attempts to provide therapeutic support within a sleeping pillow have been provided by the prior art.
One such prior art pillow is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,829,917 to De Laittre, deceased, et al. This pillow comprises a unitary foam rubber structure having two convex lobes having a concave head support area therebetween. The object of this therapeutic pillow is to stretch the neck muscles of the user and thus encourage a relaxed sleeping posture.
Another such pillow is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,880,428 to A. C. Forsland. The posture pillow described therein comprises a neck support portion and a head cradle portion. Two such pillows are nestable one within the other to provide a pillow shape similar to a conventional pillow.
Another such pillow is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,700,779 to Tolkowsky. The pillow described therein is of unitary foam rubber construction having in a central portion thereof a configuration adapted for sleep in the supine position with either end portion being adapted to receive a sleeper in the side sleeping position.
While these prior art devices provide improvement over the deformable pillows conventionally used, there still exists a need to provide a pillow which provides corrective support and proper curvature for neck support.